Automatic knitting machine



Feb. 21, 1961 R. J. GOOD AUTOMATIC KNITTING MACHINE 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Jan. 7, 1958 INVENTOR fiaymondef. 60 0d ATTORNEYS Feb. 21, 1961 J, GQQD 2,972,243

AUTOMATIC KNITTING MACHINE.

Filed Jan. 7, 1958 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Narrowing GooseneckArm Narrowing LifiAr-m Narrowing Machine Assembly 5 I] Needle Bar T arl'finge I I iii: L--J Narrowing Cam INVENTOR Raymonddood ATTORNEYS ited StatCS Patent .z,91'z,24s s W AUTOMATIC KNITTING MACHINE Raymond J. Good, Philadelphia, Pa., assignor. to Fred C.

interfere with the ease of changeover from normal to Good & Sons, Inc., lfhiladelphia, 2a., a corporation of Pennsylvania w 7 Filed Jan. 7, 1958, Ser. No. 107,539

4 Claims. eras-s2 This invention relates to automatic knitting machines of the full fashion, flatbed type. we i With the continued decline of the of the hosiery, market for the small mill owner in this country, an increasing number of mill owners are converting their hosiery machines to heavier gauge machines for the. knitting of ther that the shape of'this special slider finger is such half-normal gauge, V p

Referring first to Fig. l of the drawings, for a descrip tion ofthe knitting action and. fabric produced, it will be seen that a row of conventional .spring beard needles are employed. The first apparent modification .of a standard machine which will be readily lrecog'nizable in this figure, is the substitutionI ofa special slider finger 10 ;for the standard dividers. 'iNote'that there is one such finger between eachfstandard sinker 11. Note furthat while it forms a supporting surface for the larger loops formed by the action of the sinkers, it isineffective to produce loops around the individual'needleswith which each is associated. As the knitting proceeds,,therefore',

' the loops formed by the action of the sinkers surround outer garments such as sweaters and the: like. ,More :g

recently, the market for sweaters knit fro'mheavy gauge yarnshas becomeincreasingly important, and as a result, still furthermodifications of the basic machine are necessary to achieve the'desired result. With public demand and fashion being as fluctual as "it is, machine J-,-;

owners hesitate to go to the expense of converting, for example, a 21 gauge machine to a 10 /2 gauge machine, when there is always the chance :that; no soonerxisg the conversion effected, than the market. demand; swings I ..-"Referringagainito 1 ia-pltirality .ofpoints are back to the higher gauge fabric. For this reason,:-it has been desirable to provide a modification for example of a 2l gauge machine which enables the machine to knit either 10 /2 orM2l gauge fabric without the usual conversion expense.

- Acco ing y, t is ther in in I 10mm of therpre' e a invention so to. modify a standard flatbed, fullffashion machine that it is easily converted to knit, for example, it r 10 l ng u efab ic. 1:: i Other objects and advantages of thepresent invention will be apparent from the following description when read in conjunction with the attached sheets of drawing, in which:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view showing the arrangement of special dividers and points together with a portion of fabric which has a gauge corresponding to one-half the number of needles on the needle bar;

Fig. 2 shows in side-by-side relationship the ordinary knock-over bit, together with -a special knock-over bit useful in connection with the present invention; and

Fig. 3 shows the mechanism for controlling the movement of the points in accordance with the present invention.

As will be apparent to those skilled in the art, if, for example, a 21 gauge machine is to knit 10 /2 gauge fabric, every other needle in each section of the machine must in some way be inactivated. One possible solution is to permanently close the beards of every other needle. A similar result could be obtained by simply substituting a blind post for every other needle. Either of these solutions, however, requires expense in connection with reconversion. In general, the objects of the present invention are achieved by utilizing a point bar with a point for every other needle. Whenever it is desired to knit the lower gauge fabric, it is only necessary to activate the point bar on each course of knitting, so that every .other needle has its beard covered or closed by its corresponding point at the time in the knitting cycle that those needles would ordinarily be pulling the new course through the old loops. Other minor modifications of the sinkers and dividers and the knock-over bits are helpful in achieving the objects of the present invention, but none shown, one for every other needle on the needle bar. When the machine is operating, the points 30 are caused to lo e h e rd q at nee le i h ch ey ar associated, and such closure of course, takes placeata predetermined point in the, knitting, cycle. Those needles I which are thus coveredby ,the, points; therefore, do not knit, ,wit h r ul at a hea g e b i PI duced substantially as shown in this figure. 1;" Referring now-to Fig. 3, those skilled intheart'will readily recognizethe conventional narrowing mechanism including the narrowing 'gooseneck arm 40, the narrow; ing machineassembly 41,. the narrowing lift 42', the a rr w ns o r-a m 43' an the na r w wa h A jacent the conventional narrowing'cam, there is positioned on the same cam shaft a circular cam 45, which, when in engagement with the narrowing roller arm roller follower 46 will result in no movement of the narrowing machine assembly during operation of the knitting machine. Also, on the same cam shaft and positioned adjacent the narrowing cam is a third cam 47, which will provide the necessary point motion to effect a closing of the beards of every other needle as the knitting proceeds. A conventional cam follower shifting arrangement may be used such, for example, as the one described on page 34 with reference to Fig. 56 of the 1940 edition of The Reading prepared by Textile Machine Works of Reading, Pennsylvania.

From the foregoing, it will be apparent that whenever the cam roller 46 is shifted to engage the cam shown at .47 in Fig. 3, the action of the points will be such as to knit a 21 gauge fabric even without the formation 01f loops around the particular needles which are associated with the special sinkers or sliders. the enlarged knock-over bits in alternate positions to the standard bits is likewise ineffective to change the char,- acter of the fabric knitted with the point her out of operation.

Further, the use of It will be apparent thereforethat there is herein shown 4 and described a modification of a standard flat bed fullfashioned machine on which either full gauge or half gauge fabric may be knittedf The only conversion from one to the other which is necessary is the shifting of the cam followers in eachsection of the machine; For this reason, with only the expense of adapting the machine to incorporate the Special features disclosed herein, the machine becomes readily convertible back and forth to knit half or full gauge fabrics.

While the applicants preferred embodiment of the present invention has been herein shown and described, pplicant, claims the'benefit of a full range of equivalents within the scope of the appended claims. I I I claim: v 1 l 1', In combinationwith a fiat bed, full fashion knitting machine, which machine includes a needle bar, a plurality of needles carried by the needle bar, a narrowing mechanism, a cam. shaft, and cam means on the cam shaft for actuating the narrowing mechanism, a plurality of knockover bits and means for actuatingsaid knockover bits, and a plurality of sinkers and dividers and means for actuating said sinkers and dividers; a point bar supported .by said narrowing mechanism, coextensive in length with said needle bar,"having a plurality of points thereon equal in number to one half the number of needles, mutually spaced a distance corresponding to two'needle spacings and positioned to cooperate respectively"with alternate needles; additional-cam means car'- ried by said cam shaft and operative to move said point bar to causesaid points to close the beards ou said alternate needles during the knitting of each successive course; and means to inactivatesaid point bar; whereby I ineffective to form a loop around its corresponding needle.

4. In combination with a standard fiat bed, full fashion knitting machine, which machine includes a needle bar, a plurality of needles carried by the needle bar, a plurality of sinkers and dividers, a narrowing mechanism, and a cam shaft having cams thereon for actuating the narrowing mechanism; a point bar supported by said narrowing mechanism, coextensive in length with said needle bar, having a plurality of points thereon equal in number to one half of the number of needles, mutually spaced a distance corresponding to two needle spacings and positioned to cooperate respectively with alternate needles; slider fingers, one positioned between each pair 'of adjacent dividers, said fingers having elongated nose portions of such extent that they serve as fabric supporting members only and are ineifective to form a loop around their corresponding needles; a plurality of knoekover bits, alternate bits being of substantially greater vertical dimension than the other bits, said alternate bits being positioned to underlie respective ly said slider fingers; cam means carried by said cam shaft and operative tomove said point bar to cause said points to close the beards of said alternative needles during the knitting of each successive course, and means to inactivate said point bar; whereby the machine may knit selectively full or one half gauge fabric depending on the use or non-use of the point bar during the knitting cycle.

the machine'may knit selectively full or one half gauge fabric depending on the use or non-use of the point 'bar during the knitting cycle. 5 g V 2. The combination defined by claim 1 in which alternate'knockover bits are of substantially greater vertical dimensions than'those adjacent saidalternate knockover bits. r

3. Thecombinationdefined by claiml in whicha plurality of slider fingersare provided, one positioned between each pair of adjacent sinkers, each said slider finger having an elongated nose portion of such extent that it servesas a loop supporting -member'only and is References Cited in thefile of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS I 

